I arrived home after tennis practice. With the tournament next week, no one was friends anymore. The atmosphere on the court was just pure aggression and testosterone. The scout was coming and every single one of us wanted it so badly we could taste it.
All I wanted right now was to eat an extra large bowel of sugar filled cereal in the bath so I could rest my aching feet which were officially covered in blisters. But when I walked inside the first thing I noticed was that the house has been tidied and cleaned to within an inch of its life. Unusual! My mother was not the cleaning type. I turned when I heard voices from the dinning room. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I knew it was bad. I could tell. I just had a feeling. The bowl of cereal and the bath faded from my mind and all I wanted to do now was know what the hell was being said.
'So as you can see, the dinning room looks out onto the garden, so in summer you can open the doors up and dine al fresco," My mom was smiling and hardly acting like herself, she sounded like a God damn sales person. Selling you a timeshare.
"Lovely. It's a great feature," A woman with a clipboard said, she turned and I honed in on the embroider logo on her shirt.
Pam Sue Real Estate " Where selling is our middle name".
Under normal circumstances I might have burst out laughing at the cheese of that logo. But these were not normal circumstances.
"Mom...." The question hung in my inflection
"Mike, we have to. I'm sorry. I know it's sudden, but Pam thinks she has someone who can rent it immediately."
"Mom...."
"Hi there, I'm Pam—"
I cut her off, "I can read."
"Mike! Don't be rude."
"Rude!" I was aware that I'd raised my voice now, "Do you know what's rude? Making me move without even asking. Telling me to move when I don't want to. Well, I don't want to fucking move, okay. I am not moving."
The estate agent blinked her eyes, as if she'd never heard such a thing before.
"Perhaps I should leave you two to discuss this,"
"Perhaps you should just leave. Full stop." I hissed at her and she almost ran out the door.
My mom sighed and it looked like she was about to cry again and I felt like a total dick for screaming at her. "Mom. I'm sorry. It's just... it was a shock and –"
"Your father is seeing someone else." She just blurted it out. No warning. No preamble. No nothing leaden up to that bomb.
"WHAT?!"
"Lets sit." She gestured to the table and I sat opposite her watching as she stared out of the window with a kind of hauntingly vacant look on her face. Where had my mother gone? She seemed to be disappearing in front of my eyes.
A tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek like it was all happening in slow motion. I felt my heart break for her.
"I'm sorry I shouted." I offered, not knowing what else to do. I felt so powerless. Helpless.
She shook her head and forced a stoic smile at me. "It's okay. You're angry and confused. I understand."
I smiled back at her and we both just landed up looking at each other for the longest time.
"It wasn't as mutual as I told you it was." She finally broke the silence, " I just didn't want you to know, but you're an adult and I guess you're going to find out soon enough."
I was stunned. I couldn't believe that I was hearing this. This was not a conversation that I ever imagined having with anyone, let alone my mother. Discussing my father's infidelity. You know how you can't help staring at a car crash, your eyes are drawn to it even though you know you should look away, but you're incapable of doing so. Well, my mother and I were in that car crash right now. We'd just driven head on into a wall and it was only a matter of time before people started to stare.
"Who? How long?" My voice sounds desperate and layered with emotion.
She shook her head. "I haven't asked. I don't want to know."
I put my head into my hands and the weight caused my elbows to dig into the hard wooden table.
"Bastard." I muttered.
"He's still your father."
Father? This wasn't what fathers were supposed to do. Fathers are supposed to live with their families. They're not supposed to cheat on their wives. No, the man that I had once called my father was gone. He'd been my hero when I was younger, I'd wanted to be exactly like him, but now... I never wanted to see him again.
"I don't ever want to see him again. Not after this. Not after cheating on you."
"He still loves you, this has nothing to do with you. He just doesn't love me anymore." Another tear rolled down her cheek and I reached across the table and grabbed her by the hand. I squeezed it hard.
"It's okay mom. We can move. We'll be okay."
Maria
I didn't hear from Mike for the rest of the day. Which was weird. We were usually in constant communication somehow. Phone, via head -through -bedroom -window, sign language across the grass or even shooting M&M's as each others windows with a sling shot- a game that had become very popular a couple of years ago.
It was pm and I was starting to worry, so I walked over to my window and opened it. His light was still on and I could see a faint shadow moving across the wall. So he was there, and awake. So why the hell hadn't he gotten hold of me?
